Have you ever considered how often you use a search engine to find the answer to a question when you are trying to solve a problem or back up an argument? The answer is likely to be very often, perhaps several times a day. Many of us also do this as part of our everyday work. If that includes you, then whether you know it or not you are using a method called Learning in the Flow of Work. In this month’s newsletter we give you some top tips on how to gather and share knowledge within your organisation as effectively as possible, so that your colleagues get access to the information they need – precisely when they need it.
The phrase Learning in the Flow of Work (or LIFOW) was introduced in 2018 by American workplace training expert Josh Bersin. It may sound a bit complicated, but it’s actually something most of us do all the time, often without giving it a second thought. Put briefly, Learning in the Flow of Work means finding the information you need precisely when you need it. In other words: a Google search, a quick question to a colleague on Slack, or even a well-organised collection of e-learning courses that you can access whenever you need them.
Anticipate and avoid common knowledge gaps
By applying the Learning in the Flow of Work mindset to digital workforce training you can anticipate and avoid common gaps in knowledge and add more information as the need arises. You can create instruction videos for various processes, information on how to use templates, sales tips or quickly pass on news about what is happening in your company. E-learning also provides the opportunity to continually reinforce knowledge. If you don’t understand something the first time, you can go back to it as often as needed.
You may not be able to cover every role-specific questions, but you can certainly cover the majority of them. Involve your colleagues in the process and ask them for input – they already know what they need.
Use the right authoring tools to create e-learning
The first thing you need to do once you have decided which content to share is to create a course. An authoring tool helps you do this easily. There are naturally several to choose from, but we recommend the Articulate 360 suite. It provides by far the most popular tools for creating e-learning: Rise and Storyline.
TicTac is a distributor for the Articulate 360 suite and we use it ourselves when we help customers to develop e-learning courses. Here are our top tips on how to work effectively with Articulate 360.
Organise, share and track progress with an LMS
The best way to organise all your e-learning courses is to use a Learning Management System (LMS) and there are many to choose from. Here at TicTac we use two of them: GO+ for slightly smaller organisations (or a large organisation that wants a simple and flexible LMS) and Docebo, which offers endless possibilities for sharing and tracking learning activities.
What to look for when you choose an LMS:
- What do you want your LMS to do? Do you just want to be able to upload courses, assign users and get a basic overview of who has started and completed the courses – or do you want more?
- How much time do you have, not just to create courses but also to handle the administrative side?
Here are our top tips on how to choose the right LMS for your organisation.
So, to sum up:
- Learning in the Flow of Work describes how we use sources such as Google, colleagues and other media at work to find precisely the information we need – when we need it.
- The same mindset can be applied to workforce training: by providing informative content which answers questions that crop up regularly in your workplace.
- Create e-learning courses with an authoring tool and upload them to an LMS that meets your needs and expectations for how you want training to be used in your organisation.
- Remember: only your imagination (and needs) set the limits!
Feel free to contact us if you would like to know how you can make e-learning a natural part of the working day for you and your colleagues.
